With revival in our land, it is worth reposting the Smith Wigglesworth prophecy, (posted as #4 in this series). I have included my original commentary, written at the time as we were coming out of Covid.
It’s not entirely clear that the Smith Wigglesworth prophecy from 1947,
just before he died, is entirely his own – so as a Church historian I have to
say that. But it is very similar to other prophetic words spoken by him and
accurately recorded. Despite the lack of full historic proof, I think there is
enough of a record to accept it as genuine.
Here
is the prophetic word:
During
the next few decades there will be two distinct moves of the Holy Spirit across
the
Church in Great Britain. The first move will affect every church that is open to
receive it and will be characterised by a restoration of the baptism and gifts
of the Holy Spirit.
The second move of the Holy Spirit will result in people leaving historic churches and planting new churches.
In the duration of each of these moves, the people who are involved will say, ‘This is the great revival.’ But the Lord says, ‘No, neither is this the great revival, but both are steps towards it.’
When the new church phase is on the wane, there will be evidenced in the churches of something that has not been seen before: a coming together of those with an emphasis on the Word and those with an emphasis on the Spirit. When the Word and the Spirit come together, there will be the biggest movement of the Holy Spirit that the nation, and indeed, the world, has ever seen. It will mark the beginning of a revival that will eclipse anything that has been witnessed within these shores, even the Wesleyan and the Welsh revivals of former years. The outpouring of God’s Spirit will flow over from the United Kingdom to the mainland of Europe, and from there, will begin a missionary move to the ends of the earth.
I believe we are in the days Wigglesworth speaks of. The two earlier moves in the UK can be clearly linked to the Pentecostal/Charismatic churches and the New Churches (originally House Church) movement. A restoration of the teaching on the baptism of the Spirit reflected in Pentecostalism from the early 1900s onwards and then powerfully in the 1960s/70s Charismatic movement. And a move out of historic churches into something new as seen in many new streams and church movements such as Pioneer and Newfrontiers, from the 1970s onwards.
That new church move is on the wane. Some of the pioneers are now in glory, others have passed on the movement to the next generation.
And what we are seeing now is the Word and Spirit coming together. Churches across cities are working together in ways unheard of in generations past. The reason they can do so is an emphasis on the Word and Spirit together. Churches with an emphasis on the Word and a distrust of the things said to be of the Spirit have opened up to the Holy Spirit’s work. Churches that have maybe over-emphasised the work of the Spirit in years past have found a new love for the Word and have brought it to its proper place within their meetings.
The Bible teaches end-times with persecution and with revival. Both seem to come together. In the UK, Christianity and the teaching of the Bible is under attack. But at the same time, people are far more open than ever before to the gospel. As we come out of a worldwide pandemic, many are questioning their reason for being – why they do what they do. There is a cry on their lips: ‘there must be more to life!’
As Christians we have the answer.
And as the Word and Spirit work together, we
have revival in our land.
